By Nna Anulumadu
Succour is coming to sick and indigent patients as Hungarian medical experts are on their way for another round of free medical attention to them.
It would be recalled that the Hungarian medical team facilitated by a female specialist,Dr Reka Fodor,a Hungarian humanitarian,has visited the St Charles Borromeo Specialist/Teaching Hospital,Onitsha severally where they partnered with Borromeo Specialist/Teaching Hospital, Archdiocese of Onitsha to offer free treatment including surgery to indigent patients.
The Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) of St Charles Borromeo Specialist Hospital Onitsha Rev Fr. Dr. Izunna Okonkwo who gave the hint during the week, said the medical team will be arriving Nigeria at the weekend,adding that they will visit different communities and attend to the sick especially those who are prevented from going to the hospital due to financial problems.
He noted that whenever they go to communities, they run their services free. ” This time around, they will do laboratory investigations, clinical evaluation and they will prescribe and give drugs to patients suffering from one sickness or the other for free.
He thanked the Archbishop of Onitsha His Grace Most Rev Valerian Okeke for building and sustaining good relations with Hungarians, disclosing that the partnership has yielded abundant dividends for the Archdiocese of Onitsha which the communities under the great Archdiocese are grateful. ” Many thanks to Archbishop who is the architect of the relationship/ partnership with Hungarians because he didn’t only say yes to it, but he is supporting and nurturing it. Since this relationship started, Archdiocese has received good number of Hungarians. They have visited a lot of communities, assisted in attending to the sick. They have donated several hospital equipment to our hospital within Onitsha Archdiocese.
They have also given several scholarships to indigents but brilliant students in different schools within the old Onitsha Archdiocese. Many students from different schools such as St Raphael Secondary school Awkuzu, Our Lady Assumption High School Ogidi, Stella Maris Secondary School Umuleri, and even here in St Charles Borromeo College of Nursing Sciences, some students are currently studying under Hungarians Scholarship/Hungary Helps scheme attracted by our Chief Shepherd. It may interest you to know that some nurses who graduated under their scholarship are working in different countries including Nigeria. About five Nigerians who graduated from our nursing school but now doing their degree in Nursing in Hungary are being sponsored by same Hungarians because of the partnership. We have also a gigantic five storey building under construction being sponsored by the same Hungarians. They have assisted greatly in raising structures in our various hospitals. In other words, all the hospitals in Onitsha Archdiocese have already benefitted in one way or the other from the Hungarians. During the time of Covid 19 pandemic, they brought a lot of relief materials, personal protective equipment (PPS), medications etc, which were distributed to both the healthy and sick. We didn’t lose any of our staff during Covid outbreak because of the quality personal protective equipment Hungarians donated to us, and the same generosity was extended to other hospitals in the Archdiocese as non of their staff had health crises . Our hospitals were open 24 four hours (24/7) to patients during Covid era partly because of the multidimensional support we received through the partnership with Hungarians”, he explained.
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